Standing-8

It is a lonely time for a boxer when they hit the canvas, their mind suddenly trying to process why the crowd is blurrily at eye level, their sounds muffled. Everything is in slow motion as the referee comes into focus, their voice counting numbers. J’Leon Love from Inkster, Michigan 18-1, (1 No Contest 10KO) was in such a position on Saturday night after being crushed by a devastating left hook at the hands of Rogelio “Porky” Medina 33-6 (27 KO) of San Luis, Sanora Mexico and was knocked out in the third round in Saturday’s ShoBox Main Event from the Pearl at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Love was headlining a ShoBox card which was showcasing three highly touted super middleweights with something to prove and all promoted by Floyd Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions, Love, Badou Jack, and Ronald Gavril.

In the first round, Love used his 4 ½ inch reach advantage and jabbed Medina while landing a few body shots. Love was using a lot of movement as Medina stalked him and landed a few power shots of his own. Love had been down in his last fight against Marco Antonio Perriban so it was wise to jab and move away from the power punching Medina. In the second round, Medina landed the stronger shots and continued stalking Love as Love continued to use his jab and move while trying to land his right. 

In previous fights, Love had shown a weakness to keep his chin straight up during exchanges and Medina was there to exploit it in the third. Medina stalked Love into the corner and landed a picture perfect left hook that had Love out on his feet. As Love was falling, Medina landed a small left uppercut as Love fell face first into the mat, his legs twitching as he lay on the canvas. Love tried to get up stumbling into the ropes from his knees causing Referee Tony Weeks to wave the fight off at 39 seconds of round three.

This is a devastating setback for Love who had hoped to be in line for bigger fights. He must now pick up the pieces and start his journey over again after a knockout loss. He doesn’t have to go far to find guidance on what that will take. He need only go back to the gym and consult with his stablemate Badou Jack who did just that on Saturday night.

Badou Jack 17-1-1 (11 KO) from Stockholm, Sweden had experienced what happened to Love in his last fight. Not comparable in the brutality of how it happened but in tasting the canvas and losing by knockout. Jack needed to prove in this fight against Jason Escalera 15-3-1 (12KO) of Union City, New Jersey that he wasn’t the fighter who lost to Derek Edwards by KO but more so the fighter who beat the aforementioned Medina by TKO.

Jack fought the first round like he had one goal in mind, survive the round. Although Jack fought very cautious, he exhibited a good jab, worked to the body, and used lateral movement.  Escalera was just looking for one shot trying to repeat what Edwards had done. Round one to Jack, mission accomplished.

Jack controlled the early rounds by utilizing his jab to the body and then to the head while landing timely counter rights. He wobbled Escalera in round three but Escalera recovered quickly and made it a non-issue. Jack picked up the pace and pressed the action in the middle to late rounds as he began to get more confident that Escalera could not hurt him.  He continued to lad his jab and landed a few body shots from time to time. Jack showed good speed and lateral movement on his way to earning a dominant unanimous decision with scores of  100-90 X 2 and 99-91  Escalera actually threw 177 more punches than Jack but Jack was far superior in connection rate landing 158 more.

In the first bout of the night, Ronald Gavril of Bacau, Romania raised his record to 10-0 (8KO) by defeating Thomas Falowo 12-3 (8 KO) of Pawtucket Rhode Island by seventh round TKO.  

In the seventh round, Gavil landed a right to the temple of Falowo’s head sending Falowo to the ropes. Gavril observed that Falowo was dazed by the shot and unloaded with right and left hooks and body shots causing Referee Robert Byrd to stop the fight at two minutes fourteen seconds of the seventh round. Falowo, who also was dropped in the third round, was game but clearly overmatched.

Gavril is a sound technical boxer and expends little energy as his economical style allowed him to pick his opponent apart. As Mayweather Promotion’s CEO Leonard Ellerbe stated to Showtime “In this gym, Gavril is the only guy nobody wants to spar with” 

Gavril has continued to get better; he has a vast amateur background with 180 fights and is a good pressure fighter who can cause damage wither either hand. Said trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad of Gavril’s opponents, “If you’re hurt, you’re gone”

SHO Box The New Generation’s tagline is: Before Greatness…Before Glory…You Have To Prove Yourself Here…Tomorrow’s Champions Today.  On Saturday’s card we saw three fighters answer that call, two expected and one unexpected, a highly touted prospect continued his rise, one returned to exercise his demons, and one that no one saw coming. 

This article contributed to Behind The Gloves .com 

Awakening The Beast Without A Doubt

On Friday night, Austin Trout (27-2 14KO) was facing an opponent he was reportedly a 25-1 favorite against, Daniel Dawson (40-4-1 26KO). All seemed to go as planned in the first two rounds; but round three was a different story. Dawson knocked Trout down two times by landing straight counter rights over Trout’s noncommittal lefts. Trout may have been dazed but recovered nicely.  “They were two, quick flash knock-downs, but he was strong. But, at the same time, I just didn’t see them coming, he had to wake me up and I got woken up and the beast came out.” Trout went on to dominate the rest of the bout, and added a knockdown of his own, flooring Dawson in the 8^th.

So, where does Trout go from here, a rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Erislandy Lara? Perhaps, but he must first tighten up his guard and work on his leg strength and balance. He has been dropped in three straight fights and in reviewing said knockdowns, his balance was not good and his legs appeared weak. Ring rust was expected here but Trout showed little.

In the end, Trout accomplished his mission; get back in the ring, get a victory, and start road back to elite level.

Freezin For A Reason

By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have seen or participated in an ice bucket challenge for ALS. Boxers and others involved in the sport have jumped right in to donate and be subjected to the cold shock. Iron Mike Tyson got into the action and challenged Jim Gray among one of his selections with Gray choosing Floyd Mayweather as one of his. At the end of the day, it’s all about giving back.

Not A Laughing Matter

During the ice bucket challenge, 50 Cent decided that he would change it up by challenging Mayweather to “read a page out of a Harry Potter book” and that he (50 Cent) would donate $750,000 to a charity of Mayweather’s choice if he completed the task. Once this hit social media, the comment and posts opened up the floodgates to the cesspool of hate.  It didn’t take long for the jokes to surface about Mayweather’s alleged inability to read, and they were brutal. Mayweather apparently countered by posting checks of his earnings with the caption “read this” which would imply to some that you don’t need to know how to read as long as you make millions. To the countless youth who look up to these men, the wrong message was sent that it’s ok to make fun of a disability or not bother to learn how to read as long as you make lots of money. These men are in a position to positively affect the youth who idolize them, sadly that wasn’t the case in this instance.

The Next Great Boxing Promoter??..Can I Get A What, What??

Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation Sports has ventured into the boxing arena and they aren’t coming alone.  The signing of well-regarded David Itskowitch to oversee operations is a strong indication that they mean business. While they haven’t inked any fighters as of yet, they plan to promote their first event by the end of the year.  Behind the scenes, they are strategizing on which fighters they will pursue and are on record saying that they will work with any promoter, manager, or network.  Jay-z has been successful as a rapper, music producer, and entrepreneur so there is no reason to believe that he does not have what it takes to succeed here. With the right team around him, he should be able to make things very interesting with Golden Boy and Top Rank.

Dr. Needs A Dr.

Wladimir Klitschko suffered a left bicep tear postponing his September 6 bout with Kubrat Pulev until November or December depending on recovery time. “I am very disappointed that the fight cannot take place as planned. I am in absolute top form and had a great training camp.” said Klitschko. Somewhere Shannon Briggs is thinking about his next stalking appearance.

Garcia vs. Salka

Philadelphia’s Danny Garcia needed a big performance on Saturday night against Rod Salka to silence his critics.  On Showtime’s headlining bout from Brooklyn, New York, Garcia may have done just that landing a spectacular left hook and knocking out Salka at officially two minutes and thirty-one seconds of the second round.

Garcia, who improves to 29-0 with 17 knockouts, has been chided by some in boxing circles not only since his bout against Salka, (19-4, 3 knockouts) was announced but ever since his controversial decision against Mauricio Herrera. Some felt that he had lost the fight to Herrera and were outraged that he chose to follow up that fight against the lightly regarded Salka from Bunola, Pennsylvania, a small town just outside of Pittsburgh. Not all of the criticism was warranted however as Garcia’s last eight opponents all had been former or current champions. Neither of Garcia’s titles was on the line in this one as both the WBA and WBC refused to sanction the bout. The bout was fought at a catchweight of 142.

From the opening bell, Garcia’s speed and size were evident against the overmatched Salka.  Garcia easily won round one by consistently landing a quick jab, doubling up the left hook to the body and stalking his opponent. Salka was able to land a few counter punches but Garcia’s speed and movement were too much. Interesting to note is that Salka’s right hand was surprising low in round one which was odd since you would have thought that they would have trained to guard against the Garcia left hook.

In round two, Garcia landed a huge overhand right which was set up by a picture perfect jab/feint to the body. Salka was visibly rocked by the shot and went down after Garcia followed up with multiple body shots. Salka was up at the count of seven but Garcia jumped on him and landed multiple shots to the side of his head causing Salka to take a knee. Salka once again rose to his feet and Garcia attacked him ruthlessly by landing huge power shots and wobbling Salka again. Salka was game and motioned Garcia to bring it. Garcia obliged him by landing a wicked left hook which flattened Salka, this time he would not beat the count.

After the fight, Garcia was asked by Showtime’s Jim Gray if he (Garcia) took an easy fight by choosing Salka to which Garcia replied, “I came here and did what I was supposed to do, it doesn’t always happen in boxing, I trained hard, I didn’t listen to the people saying it was going to be an easy fight, cause if I would have taken it lightly, he would have came in here and probably upset me but I took this fight like I take any other fight. I came prepared and did what I was supposed to do”

Garcia continued, “No fight is easy unless you put the hard work in and I put the hard work in.  I got the W, It has nothing to do with my opponent because when Danny Garcia is at his best he can beat anybody and I already proved that”

On the prospects of fighting Lamont Peterson, who was victorious on the undercard, Garcia stated “I’m all about fighting the best fighters, I’ll leave it up to Al Haymon, but if he wants it, he can get it too, cause that’s what I do, I’m a fighter”

Peterson vs. Santana

Destroy the body and the head will fall is an old adage in boxing and although Edgar Santana didn’t fall, his body was destroyed by Lamont Peterson. Halfway through the tenth round, ringside Doctor Barry Jordan had seen enough and stopped the fight.

If you missed the fight, you need only watch any one of the nine previous rounds prior to the tenth round stoppage to understand what happened in the fight. Every round was virtually a carbon copy of the next. Peterson dominated each round by utilizing excellent lateral movement, changing angles, landing tremendous hooks to the body and head, and stunning Santana with timely uppercuts. The ShoStats showed that 219 of Peterson’s 281 total punches landed were power shots. Comparatively, Santana only landed 94 total punches. Santana could never get going in this one and seemed to be tiring throughout the fight fell to 29-5 with the loss.

Peterson of Washington D.C. retained his IBF Junior Welterweight Title and improves to 33-2-1 with 17 knockouts.  Said Peterson after the fight, “I was able to show a lot of dimensions of my game, boxing well, fought on the inside well, I really think I should have probably got him out of there earlier than I did, overall I give myself an ok grade”

When asked if his next opponent would be Danny Garcia should he win, Peterson stated, “I hope so”

Article submitted and posted at Behind The Gloves.com

Can The Alien Be Krushed?

Now that Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev successfully defended his WBO Light Heavyweight belt, he will take on the Bernard “The Alien” formally known as “The Executioner” Hopkins in November. Much has been said about the age of Hopkins, who will enter that fight at 49 years young; however, don’t let that fool you, he has a legitimate shot of making this fight ugly and upsetting the champ. His ring IQ, solid chin, and rough tactics give him more than just a chance here.

In Need Of Remedial Training?

I’m not condoning Vic Drakulich’s stoppage of Brandon Rios and Diego Chaves foul filled affair this past Saturday night but point deductions were warranted during the fight to keep it under control. I get Chaves’ deduction in the third; he had been holding Rios every time they got in close and wouldn’t release even when told to do so. Equally, I am ok with Rios’ deduction in the fifth for ensuring Chaves hit the mat by muscling him down. The second point deduction for Chaves occurred in the eighth when both men were in the clinch and utilizing dirty tactics in close. Thing is, Rios was giving as good as he was getting in there, just so happens Chaves retaliated last and was caught scraping Rios across the face. Due to the position of Drakulich at the time, only seeing the last foul clearly and where the fight had been prior to that point, I can see his reasoning on this one. That said, VDrak lost control of this fight early and because of that, it ended up going down a road where a DQ was probable. Seems Drakulich could have benefitted by penalizing both men at the same time to send a stronger message and even warned both corners in between rounds?

And The Award For Best Actor Goes To…….

Shannon Briggs was at it again, tormenting Wladimir Klitschko in public with his rant of “Everywhere you go, I go, everywhere you go, I go champ!!” This time he chose to conduct his tirade while Klitschko was eating in a restaurant with a new rant of “Whatever you eat I eat!!” Briggs took Klitschko’s food and started eating it prompting the champ to pour water over his head. Once this occurred, bedlam ensued with the video ending with Briggs being “escorted” out by well placed actors….ahem…excuse me…body guards. As I watched the video, I looked for the microphone erroneously hanging too low into the scene prompting the director to yell “CUT!!!!! Who the hell is placing the microphone in the scene???”

Let’s Go To The Judge’s Score Cards….On Second Thought…..

Eyebrows were raised once again this past weekend when the scores for the Jessie Vargas v. Anton Novikov bout were revealed. Vargas won two cards by seven points and the third by six in what most observers thought had been a close fight. Also recently was the ridiculous 117-111 card in the Canelo Alvarez Erislandy Lara fight and who can forget Bradley-Pacquiao? It’s not that bad judging hasn’t occurred from time to time throughout the sport’s history but over the past several years it is occurring at an alarming rate. Accuracy on the scorecards for what really happened in the ring shouldn’t be too much to ask. Yes, the cards on close fights should vary but reasonably within a point or two. The governing bodies should work collaboratively to develop a remedial training program for judges who score fights so absurdly that it’s obvious to even the most casual fan. The overused “black-eye for boxing” is appropriately used when speaking about bad judging and it’s time for a change.

Kovalev-Caparello

Sergey Kovalev knocked out Blake Caparello in the second round to retain his WBO Light Heavyweight belt. Kovalez knocked Caparello down in the second round with a crisp body shot. Caparello got up but then the Krusher closed the show by landing accurate power punches and adding a few more knockdowns before the referee stopped the fight. Kovalev actually went down in the first round on a stiff punch by Caparello but it was more of a case of Kovalev being off balance than being hurt by the punch. Replays showed that Caparello stepped on Kovalev’s foot as usually happens when a southpaw and orthodox fighter get together.  With the victory, Kovalev will now face Bernard Hopkins, the ageless alien in November.

Rios-Chaves

Brandon Rios and Diego Chaves went to war on Saturday night and when the dust settled it was the referee who had the biggest impact. Vic Drakulich disqualified Chaves in the ninth round for holding? He had already deducted a point from Chaves in the third round for holding and in the eighth for scrapping Rios across the face with his glove when he was told to break. Rios wasn’t immune to the wrath of VDrak, he also lost a point in round five for adding a little MMA and utilizing a takedown. The fight was close at the time of the stoppage; however, Chaves was winning on two of the three judges scorecards but the case could have been made for either fighter. Rios claimed that Chaves was poking him in the eyes at the time of the disqualification and earlier in the fight. In watching the fight, I did see that occur a few times in the clinch, as slight as it was, Chaves was doing it.

During the fight when points weren’t being deducted, the two fighters had their moments. Chaves was effective landing solid rights, lefts and timely uppercuts. He also was controlling the fight in spots when he boxed and fought from the outside. Rios stalked Chaves while landing some wicked body shots and did his best work on the inside with a high output of power shots. Both gave as good as they got and too bad it got a little messy and ended the way it did.  After their fight Rios said he didn’t want to win that way and he’s not back just yet. Chaves stated he’d like a rematch and doesn’t understand why he was disqualified. I would agree a rematch is needed here, many unanswered questions.

“I fucking love this shit!!”, the classic response uttered by “Bam Bam” Brandon Rios after being chastised by trainer Robert Garcia for receiving what Garcia felt was unneeded punishment against Mike Alvarado. Yes, that is Bam Bam, the throwback, energetic, and charismatic brawler fighting out of Oxnard, California by way of Lubbock, Texas. He loves to fight. He doesn’t particularly care for opponents who wish to box, no, Rios 31-2-1 (23KO) wants to bang. He will get his chance once again this Saturday night in Las Vegas against another brawler in Argentine Diego Chaves 23-1 (19KO) in a ten round welterweight clash.

This will be Rios’s first fight after an eight month layoff which included a five month suspension for testing positive for a banned substance after his last fight against Manny Pacquiao. Rios will be entering this fight with two consecutive losses, the only losses of his career, one each to the aforementioned Pacquiao and Alvarado. Rios was actually winning the Alvarado rematch until Alvarado switched from brawler to boxer. It is at those moments, when Rios’s opponents wish to box him that the fight starts to slip away, Rios’s warrior spirit longs for the violent encounter not the sweetness of the game. You figured that his brawling style would have had a chance in the fight against Pacquiao but he was thoroughly out boxed. Back in the ring for the first time since being put to sleep by Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao chose to engage less and box more. The brawling type fight that Rios covets eluded him once again.

Enter Chaves, a hard punching brawler in his own right who has only let three out of his twenty-four fights go to the scorecards. Chaves, a solid amateur, has only lost once as a pro and that was to Keith Thurman. In the fight against Thurman, he gave a solid account of himself and has arguably given Thurman his toughest test to date even surprising him at times with his punching power. Although a brawler by nature, Chaves is fast and has shown excellent movement in recent fights, a combination that could once again spell trouble for Rios if Chaves opts for that approach.   Rios can box when he wants but can he tame the warrior spirit long enough to do so?

Rios is at a crossroads in his career; a third loss in a row would be a major setback. He needs this fight badly to resurrect his career. This time he will get to face an opponent that is less likely to box him and give him what he wants; a back alley brawl.This is when Rios is at his best, however; don’t be surprised if Rios uses his underrated speed and skills to box a little more in this one if needed. Get your mute button ready, when Rios returns to his corner Saturday night its NC-17.

Welcome back champ.